#MGReadathon!

From 2006-2016, social media for children's literature happened primarily on BLOGS. There were silly awards we could give each other, comment challenges, and perhaps the best event ever created: The MotherReader 48 Hour Book Challenge. It was an excuse to forego personal cleanliness, household chores, and talking to people in person and get a LOT of reading done while also visiting other blogs. Looking up the rules from 2015, I am impressed at how much effort Pam Coughlan put into the event. There were prizes! And charitable donations!

It seems like a good time to bring back a version of this. There are still a number of children's literature blogs, but most connections occur on Twitter. Twitter, to me, is so busy with other things that it's easy to lose track of what is going on in the book world. 

48 Hour #MGReadathon Rules:

1. Find 48 consecutive hours to read from Friday, 7/15- Sunday, 7/17.
2. Sign in on the STARTING LINE through Mr. Linky on this blog so we have a list of blogs to visit.
3. Keep track of your hours. You can include some social media time*.
4. Keep track of how many books you read. Audio books count as books. 
5. Sign in at the FINISH LINE of the readathon and COMMENT on this blog with number of hours and books read.

*(I thought it was 15 minnutes during every four hour period, but that just might have been me. You should read more books than blogs.)

There are no prizes, other than the fame and glory of reading the most hours or books. I think my personal best was 38 books, so... gauntlet flung!

Bonus Challenge!

Laurie Hnatiuk (@lhnatiuk) and Kathie MacIsaac (@KathieMacIsaac) of Bit About Books are much more motivated and organized about social media than I am, and have a Summer Reading Challenge of their own going on. It's helpfully arranged in different hiking trails with awesome lists of books for different books, and also includes an Off the Grid path if you've already read most of the titles. The challegen started June 1st and ends August 31st, but pairs perfectly with 48 hours of intensive reading!

You have a month to clear your schedule, stock up on books and snacks, and alert Junior Members of Staff that you will be WORKING that weekend and someone else will have to take them to the pool.  I have been known to walk the dog while reading a book, so Pongo is prepared. I'll post the Mr. Linky starting line on Friday morning, July 15th, so you can start whenever you would like that day. Get ready to clear out your TBR list and READ!